It is known in the art to provide a cup holder assembly in a rear seat center armrest of a motor vehicle. Typically, such a cup holder assembly is made from a hard plastic material. When the armrest is stowed and the center seat is occupied, the occupant can feel the hard plastic of the cup holder assembly against his or her back as a result of the relatively limited thickness of the foam cushion material under the cup holder. This makes the seat uncomfortable. The cup holder also restricts the penetration of the occupant in the center seat.
This document relates to a new and improved 3-piece cup holder assembly incorporating a bezel, a support ring and a cup holder body of soft shell construction captured between the bezel and the support ring. For purposes of this document, soft cell construction means the cup holder body is made from a soft material that is able to collapse when subjected to foreseeable pressure resulting from one sitting in the center seat position with one's back against the armrest oriented in the stowed position.
Advantageously, the cup holder assembly is inexpensive to produce, easily assembled and integrated into an armrest assembly and substantially increases the comfort of a center seat occupant when that occupant rests his or her back against the armrest incorporating the cup holder assembly.